#quinnythelibrary

He’s wasting time, who cares that the monkey can read the classics. Refocusing, he takes a small black device no bigger than a pencil’s eraser. Due to his naturally tall form he doesn’t need a step stool to simply apply the tiny camera to the kitchen’s smoke detector in a way that looks inconspicuous. If Satoru wanted to destroy his curses, Suguru would just have to utilize technology rather than sorcery. There’s this voice screaming in the back of his head that he’s wasting time away from his true objective of eradicating all non-sorcerers. Nothing that voice says now matters. He has isolated himself so completely from other adults these last two years. That something about you has him coming back for more. He will devour and disassemble you; but tonight just doesn’t feel right. Not now, he can’t wait for that moment really. But he needs something more from you first. He’s not sure yet what that thing is.

Continuing his tour of your home, he notes your bedroom is surprisingly childish. You have stuffed animals strewn around the room, a thick fluffy comforter and hanging string lights. He can’t help the tiny smile that creeps on his face at the idea of the corporate woman he’s seen sleeping here at night. Speaking of corporate women, you should be home any minute now. He quickly places a camera in your bedroom before entering the messiest room in the house so far, the bathroom. You had been in a rush this morning. A makeup bag lay on your sink. Taking up your perfume he sprays a little in the air just to get a whiff. A shiver runs through him as he takes the scent in. He decides he wants to play a game with you. He picks up your toothbrush and sets it down in the opposite way you had it before. Would you notice? There’s a wall vent in the bathroom the perfect height for a voyeur's camera. He easily pops off the cover to set his camera inside when he can’t help but freeze. There’s already a camera inside the vent. It’s an older clunkier model that can’t stream but it can certainly be programmed to run at certain hours and record during them.

He feels his blood thrumming loud in his ears. Who has been spying on you? You’re his quarry, his target, his prey. Who was infringing on his territory? He barely hears your key in the front door lock before he applies his camera into a different area and leaves the older model for now. He slats the vent home and flicks off the bathroom light as you enter the main room. You’re all sighs as you shuffle around the kitchen and dining room. He’s sure you’ll have to pee soon and slips into your tub shower and stands behind the curtain.

The fact that you could find him here. Or that he could jump out and be on top of you at any second has him feeling a new type of elation he never had before. All his nerve endings are on fire as the bathroom light flicks on. The navy shower curtains is dark enough to obscure his figure. You give another long sigh and the intimate noises that follow give him an instant boner. You’re peeing while thinking you're alone. He isn’t even able to enjoy the full experience as he’s instantly is reminded of the other camera in the vent. He needs to take care of that. The idea that someone else is taking advantage of your private moments, the ones meant only for him, is going to drive him mad.

There’s the sound of your clothes hitting the floor and Suguru has an anticipatory knot his throat. One of your dainty hands reaches blindly into the shower and turns the water on. The cold water blasts his clothes but he barely feels it beneath his racing pulse. If you see him here it’s game over for you. He will either have to kill you or force you into a state where you are unable to tell anyone.

His breathing is picking up but the sound of the shower is masking it. When you step past the shower’s billowing curtain he’s going to grab you by the shoulders and slam you into the shower wall. He’ll let the freezing water spray you down. Your skin will erupt into goosebumps while your nipples harden painfully. You’ll be so terrified-

There’s a noise as you leave the bathroom. You must have forgotten something in your bedroom. Despite the fantasy's allure he exits the bath quickly. He isn’t ready for this new game to end yet.

He’s creeping to the bathroom exit when he sees a pair of your used panties at the top of your dirty clothes pile. He doesn’t even hesitate a moment before he swiftly pockets them. Geto is out of your apartment and riding the elevator to the first floor before you even return to the bathroom.

The longer he walks down the streets the more his mind works itself up into a frenzy. His consciousness is in turmoil. Why hasn’t he killed you yet? Is he getting weak? Is his resolve really that shaky? He pauses at a crosswalk on his journey to the train station. A monkey approaches him from the sidewalk. Her hips are swaying and hair is meticulously styled, “Hey handsome, looking-“ her spiel is interrupted by screams as the curse he let loose melts away her features until she’s no more than a mummified husk. He continues walking when the crosswalk indicates he’s safe to and ignores all the hysterical bystanders who just saw that monkey spontaneously combust.

So he isn’t weak, he didn’t feel anything when he murdered that woman. If anything he feels relief that one more monkey will no longer be on this planet. So you are his problem. Oddly enough that irritates him more. He pulls out the soft pink panties he had stolen off your floor. He holds them tightly in his fist as his jaw works in annoyance. He’s going to throw them into the next trash bin he passes. The entire walk home, bin after bin goes by and his grip on your cloth only tightens.

He’s doing mental gymnastics in order to justify not throwing them away. They were his reward; his trophy for his troubles. No one needed to know where it was from. He was the master of his own universe; he could do what he wished.

When he finally arrives home and locks the office door behind him his grip loosens. His fingers are slightly cramped from the extended vice grip they were held in. Little crescent moons dot the palm of his hand from his nails pressure. In a way he felt like a giddy teen once again doing something forbidden. He and Satoru had stolen panties before as a dare. This somehow felt far more satisfying.

Opening his hands he spread the cloth to view the whole article. It was cute, soft, and slightly stained at the crotch. Did someone turn you on today or were you naturally this wet? He couldn’t help but shiver as he lifted the garment to his face. He presses the softness to his cheek and inhales deeply the musky scent of you. His eyes roll back in his head as he continues to breathe you into him. He can’t wait to spread your thighs and get it from the source. Looking at the slightly damp crotch he tentatively licks, and then sucks at the fabric. There’s not enough there to taste your essence but the fact that your pussy dripped on this spot for hours today is enough to drive him wild.

He’s slipping open his robes. He doesn’t need to totally remove them to pull out his rock hard member. His tip is a furious scarlet with pearls of precum drooling from it. He’s rougher with himself than he normally would be. Your panties are pressed to his face so he can smell you all around him. He milks himself harshly and unforgivingly. He’s jerking himself to a fucking monkey. Ensuring he doesn’t enjoy the process as much as he could, he squeezes himself in a way that he will likely show bruises tomorrow. At the moment of his climax he releases his twitching cock. Slumping against the door he whimpers as he ruins his own orgasm. His hips are bucking in want, wishing for that gentle attention found in the afterglow. As long as he’s lusting over this damn monkey he doesn't intend to allow himself any real relief.

~~

It’s Thursday evening and you have been absolutely swamped at work this week. Your boss is genuinely a nice guy but when he’s getting reamed out by the higher powers, you and Zoe end up having to help with whatever unreasonable request is handed down. Instead of leaving around six both of you had pulled a late one tonight only leaving after ten PM.

The two of you sat in a smaller mom and pop restaurant, the tables on the floor are surrounded by cushions for seating. A half eaten massive bowl of ramen sits in front of you, along with an almost complete third beer. You are somewhat decent at holding your alcohol but tonight it’s hitting a little harder than normal and you are basking in that feeling.

Your attention is jerked up when Zoe slams her second beer down looking satisfied. Unlike you, Zoe cannot hold her alcohol at all and is generally reduced to a good natured giggly drunk by the evening’s end.

You're pushing around some noodles before putting them in your mouth with a lament, “What’s the buddhist version of hell.”

Zoe cackles, “We’re probably already in it. Look around you, ain’t it swell.” Suddenly a pair of chopsticks are pointing directly at your face just an inch away from your nose. Guessing you are thinking about your encounter with that monk earlier this week she continues, “You need to let that shit go. Didn’t you go past his temple when you saw him the second time? If anything, you're the stalker at this point.” Zoe eyes closed, is nodding to herself now as if someone else has made a really good point in the conversation.”

You pout heavily picking up a fishcake experimentally before putting it back into your bowl. “I wasn’t thinking about him and I didn’t call him a stalker..”

There’s a shuffling beside your booth as the third and final party member stumbles back from the restroom. He’s a lanky guy, his legs go on forever as he awkwardly sits back beside Zoe. “Let’s not use our chopsticks to point at others.” He chides lightly, tapping her arm.

Staring at her arm still stretched across the table Zoe reluctantly puts it down with a frown. “Y/N needed a scolding because she thinks she's got beef with a Buddhist Monk.”

You wave your hands quickly in embarrassment gesturing for Zoe to shut up. Unfortunately, all that did was grab your bosses interest even more. You quickly try to dissuade that interest. “I’m overreacting, really. I just ran into this monk two times and each time he just stared down like I spit on Buddha.”

Your boss tilts his head. He tends to take things seriously and apparently this would be no different. He raises a pale hand with bitten down fingernails; to rub the side of his hooked nose. “A Monk? Are they one of those culty types out of that former time association building?”

You gape up at him, which gains you an awkward but pleased smile in return, “Higuruma, how did you know that?”

He laughs under his breath so the motion is there but not the noise, “I make it my business to know what’s going on around here. I haven’t felt inclined to go to a service myself as it’s all mumbo jumbo hogwash but I’ve heard a man in monk's robes runs the place and has a decent following so far. His followers proclaim he can perform healing miracles.”

Zoe’s listening attentively despite being totally smashed and leaning against the wall for support, “Eugh, gross. Y/n, maybe walk on the opposite side of the street from now on.”

You nod at Zoe’s comment, “I have been and that seems to have worked.”

Your boss Higuruma Hiromi tilts his head to the side while watching you, “Did he say something to harass you?”

Your face is totally flushed with humiliation at this point. You are clearly overreacting and Higuruma’s kindness is just slamming that point home, “No he hasn’t said a word to me, please don’t concern yourself.”

Your boss waves for the check while mulling everything over, “You're not exactly one for theatrics. Let me know if something changes, we had better head out now if we want to make the last trains home.”

Unlike most corporate drinking, it didn’t feel forced at all when you were both invited out by Higuruma. He was unassuming and sincere, kept his private life to himself and never overstepped work boundaries like so many other men did in the workplace.

Exiting out into the cool air you watched pretty little puffs waft by from your exhales. The sidewalk was surprisingly busy considering the hour. Ahead of you Zoe gives a bit of a stagger causing you to giggle as Higuruma shakes his head in an affectionate manner before putting his arm through hers to give her balance. You can’t help but smile lightly at their backs. They would make a cute couple.. then again you didn’t even know if Higuruma was single.

It was at that point a chill went up your spine. Goosebumps rippled down your limbs and you reflexively pulled your arms to you and rubbed yourself to keep warm. You felt this undercurrent of unease, a creeping anxiety, like a predator was stalking you from the bushes. You keep walking with your group but you couldn’t help looking over your shoulder trying to see what gave you that ominous feeling. You aren’t the tallest person in the world but you figure a man in monk's robes would stick out like a sore thumb…..a man in monks robes? Why would you assume it was that monk again? You are really being weird about this whole thing. There was absolutely no one behind you that was paying you any mind. You need to stop drinking if this is how it affects your anxiety.

You turn to catch up with your group and when you do dark blue and gold catch your eye across the street. On the opposite side of the road walks the man who has been haunting your thoughts lately. The way he strolls down the sidewalk is as if he has nothing else in the world to do. Not only is he on the wrong side of the street but he’s still behind you by a block or so and isn’t even looking your way. Yet the goosebumps remain.

You turn and rush forward, bumping interesting others in order to catch up with your small group. Once within talking distance you realize there’s nothing for you to say. The man is simply existing and you’re freaking out. He’s probably on his way back to his temple which is on the way to the station. The level of panic you feel thrumming through your veins is uncalled for. You decide to stay closer to your group, feigning being unaffected, as you try with all your might not to look over your shoulder anymore to see if he’s still there.

“That’s the place right?” Higuruma nods, talking over his shoulder to you. You finally allow yourself to turn but instead of stopping at the temple’s building you're looking further back trying to find that man again walking along the sidewalk. Your gaze goes from person to person with no luck. He’s no longer on the sidewalk and you overreacted again. The guy in question probably entered his “workplace”. Higuruma watches you, puzzled as you look further behind the place for a moment and then give him your assent.

“Yeah.. that’s the place he was standing outside of when his cocksure buddy spilled my coffee and then asked me out to replace it.”

Zoe gave a fit of giggles at that, “Some men have no tact. Is it safe to assume you said no?”

You can’t help but blush at her correct assumption, “Kind of? I think. I don’t know, I ran like hell when I saw that Monk standing there all pissy.” Your group is crossing the street at an intersection close to the subway system. You can’t help but feel relief as the building fades from sight.

Zoe is leaning against Higuruma who is trying to keep a straight face as he holds her up under her arm. He fails when her next words are, “Maybe he just needs to get laid. God knows you do y/n.”

Your older boss chokes and has a minor coughing fit at the topic change, “Allllright Zoe, you’ve lost your talking privileges.” You’re scanning all three of your train passes as you head down a long group of stairs.

Zoe decides to ignore the memo and continues, “I am not judging, I need to get laid too. That’s why we’re going clubbing tomorrow evening. You can come too but you gotta loosen up a little guruma.”

His face is bright red and he looks like he's regretting everything that brought him to this point in his life. “I’ll go ahead and pass on that one Miss Zoe. I'm a little old for clubbing..also not really sure that’s appropriate as I’m your superior..”

The station is bustling with people trying to get home before the last train at midnight. There’s that loud overhead beeping letting you know the train you need is about to leave the station and the three of you race into the car and into a row of sideways seats. You couldn’t help but enjoy Zoe giving your boss the third degree. You had thought he was attractive and tried to hit on him for a while after being hired, to no avail. The man took his job as a defense attorney way too seriously for a woman to distract him.

The banter is natural and amusing as the two bicker lightly over things that don’t matter. You find yourself laughing lightly, just letting the booze marinate in you as the train leaves the station and moves towards your home. You are the second to last stop while Zoe is two before you. “Are you even able to get home safely Zoe?”

Your friend nods before flexing her arm, “You dare doubt me?” she gives a shit eating grin as Higuruma eyes her skeptically.

“I think I’ll walk Miss Zoe home. Just to be sure.” He mutters. If it was anyone other than Higuruma Hiromi you would never allow your girlfriend to be walked home by a man alone. But this man had an ironclad code of conduct and was one of those rare people you felt you could trust with your life. He sees the absolute worst of humanity every day. Trying to defend the innocent in cases that are labeled unwinnable. Sometimes his code of ethics is all he can rely on at the end of the day.

Nodding you let your body be gently jostled by the train car.’You aren’t exactly excited to be going home yourself. In fact, everyday this week you seem to dread it a little more. It had gotten to the point where you practically begged the complex's maintenance group to change your locks yesterday.

Little things had been around everyday this week. Your toothbrush, placed opposite of how you normally left it. Your makeup bag left unzipped with the smell of your perfume in the air. Those two were odd but could be explained as thoughtlessness.

Then came the harder things to explain. When collecting your dirty laundry to take to the communal washroom your dirty panties were nowhere to be found. You scoured the whole apartment trying to prove to yourself that you had just accidently left them in an odd spot to no avail. The straw that broke the camel's back was when you woke yesterday morning. One of your kitchen chairs had been pulled into your bedroom while you slept and was left for you to find facing your bed.

Once your heart was out of your throat and you could breath without hyperventilating you called the maintenance crew to get a fresh lock. That way if the landlord had lied about changing the locks before you moved in and/or had lost a spare key. It would be handled. While it isn’t a big change, you 're happy with the fact that you took initiative and got it done.

The train ride is short as you doze in your seat. Something about the warmth of the train car and the close proximity of friends gave you this sense of invulnerability. When the overhead announcer pages Zoe’s stop you look over to see Higuruma struggling with Zoe’s dead weight. You laugh at his face as the two leave the train. The doors close after a moment and the steady rhythm once again picks up. Your eyes are falling shut a little longer every time you blink. That is until an eerily familiar voice emanates from the seat directly in front of you, “Are you trying to be victimized?”

Chapter 2 —————————————Chapter 4

Taglist: @divinedolliebun

You reach Coach Yaga, his yappy Pomeranian giving you an attitude as you stop next to him. Yaga gives you a nod before focusing back on his players. “PICK UP YOUR FEET GOJO!” Your ears ring from the sudden bellowing next to you. It takes seconds for you to dial into that mop of white hair on the field. Star player Gojo Satoru is massive but somehow lithe; his muscles bulging as he runs to catch up with an offside ball. His physique is comparable to a statue of a Greek God. It’s too bad you heard his personality is also Greek God worthy; capricious, licentious and cocksure.

“That damn girl needs to get off my sidelines if she can’t stop distracting my players.”

You glance at the “girl” in question. She’s a professional looking young woman your age who you’ve seen around campus before. She’s crouching a respectful distance from the team on the sidelines taking photographs of the players at work. Good to see sexism is alive and well. “Yeah, I can’t believe she has the audacity to be at a professional distance while not using flash in order to be as unobtrusive as possible.”

Yaga shoots you a look that clearly says he’s not amused with your sass, “Keep taking notes on our play style like you did last practice. Fresh eyes can give insight that might be missed otherwise.” He ends his sentence with the wave of a dismissive hand in your direction. 

Dumping the binders on Yaga’s bench you pick up a clipboard and find a good spot on the sidelines to observe. Despite being on the University of Tokyo’s women’s D1 soccer team you aren’t very familiar with the men’s team. During the season you were training to chase your own championship dreams. After last week's defeat, and your dreams for this year crushed, you had volunteered to assist the men’s team in preparing for their own race to the top. It was that or take a three week break before practices started again and sitting in your dorm all day sounded like a personal hell after the rigor of these last months.

“YOU'RE LATE AGAIN KAMO! YOU’RE STAYING LATE TO RUN LAPS! NOW GET YOUR ASS IN THE GOAL!” You wince at Yaga’s screaming. 

“Yeah, yeah.” A lazy voice responds still sounding groggy from sleep. The guy Coach Yaga is talking to is tying his long hair up into a low bun as he strolls over to the goal. Yaga’s yelling clearly did not light a fire under Kamo’s ass like he wanted. 

Choso Kamo, 5’11, solid build, wide shoulders with a tapered waist, impressive reach, and massive hands. He tended to be a little slow, especially at the beginning of a match, but once he got warmed up he was a force to be reckoned with. It was almost impossible to score on him in the last half of a game. You were up until three AM last night watching youtube compilations of his best saves over the season. He was good, great even. Which is why it pissed you off so much that every day you were here shadowing he showed up late and slacked off half the practice. 

He sits on the ground in his goal area tying his cleats and putting on his gloves. A loud swish of the net is heard as Suguru Geto launches a ball past Kamo’s head just barely missing making contact.

Choso shoots an unamused look at Geto before flipping him the middle finger. When he finishes fixing his gloves, flexing to make sure they are tight enough, he mumbles. “Alright, go ahead.”

You're watching Nanami Kento, the midfielder, line up shots for practice penalty kicks when you feel a pair of eyes on you. Turning you meet a set of dark orbs watching you. You meet Choso’s gaze head on but are unable to decipher what exactly he’s thinking. He just looks exhausted. Why the hell is he staring at you like that? This isn’t the first time you’ve caught him staring at you over the last three days of your volunteer work. It’s not like he’s checking you out since he’s making prolonged awkward eye contact and he couldn’t look more disinterested. Did he recognize you from the women’s team? You doubted it. Women’s soccer was notoriously underrated and underfunded. The idea of the men’s team players watching you play was delusional at best.

His eyes are locked on you when a speeding ball kicked by Nanami slams him in the gut. There are a few “Ohhhhh” sounds from other players as Kamo groans, doubling over in pain. You can’t help but laugh at the unexpected blow landing. Your hand goes up to cover your mouth when you realize your laugh was a little too loud and a few people are looking at you incredulously. Oh please, getting hit is part of being a goalie. You can’t help but grin and jibe, “Come on Kamo, I’ve seen middle school kids take hits better!” 

You hear him mutter something under his breath followed by a clear, “Shit.” as Satoru Gojo laughs obnoxiously in the background.

“CHOSO WATCH THE FIELD NOT THE SIDELINE DISTRACTIONS!” Coach Yaga’s yell causes you to blush a little at his implying it’s your fault in him getting nailed.

As Choso stands he pins you with a heated look, his onyx eyes raking over you before turning back to the field, his demeanor serious for the remainder of practice.

~~

You're standing next to Coach Yaga reading your notes to him as he buckles his pomeranian into the front passenger seat. He doesn’t seem to actually be listening to you but you aren’t in the mood to type it all up and email it to him later tonight. 

Yaga’s car is the last one in the parking lot other than your own. You had both stayed late reviewing plays while the majority of the team went out for food and Choso begrudgingly started his late to practice laps. “So I think if you have Nanami focus on his-”

“SHIT!”  You jump in surprise as your review is interrupted by a heated yell from Yaga. He pulls a binder out of his back seat. He stares at his watch before cursing some more, “I need to leave now. Can you take this and put it in my office and then lock it up?” 

You can't help but frown and sigh as you take the key he is holding out to you. “Alright.”

He nods before getting in and starting up his car, “Thanks, bring the keys back tomorrow morning before practice. Oh, and email me those notes you took today.” 

The smile you give him is more of a grimace as he drives off without further comment. “Asshole…” you mutter under your breath as you start the trek back to the men’s locker room. Maybe you shouldn’t have volunteered to help out the men’s team. You hadn’t been ready to leave the field behind for the season yet but this wasn’t what you imagined when they asked for an assist.

You walked into the men’s locker room noting the main door was already unlocked. Yaga wants you to lock up but he couldn’t even manage to. You can’t help but wrinkle your nose a little at the smells emanating from the main locker area, especially from the questionable hamper full of dirty towels. 

Sighing you think, If this locker room is a mirror image of the womens, Yaga’s office will be in the back left corner. Heading in that direction it isn’t until you see Yaga’s office that you register a single shower is running in the background. You are so used to hearing showers run in the girls locker room that you didn’t even register the sound as unusual. You look towards the hallway of lined showers knowing that each shower cubicle has a shower curtain pulled across it obstructing any outsider’s view. 

That has to be Kamo. You thought he had left already but clearly that was not the case. You can’t help but reflexively bite your bottom lip. Mind thinking about his gleaming pale skin with rivulets of water racing down his hard muscles. You feel thirsty at the thought but shake your head scolding yourself. The man is just trying to clean up after his workout and you’re out here like a damn voyeur salivating over nothing. You quickly cross in front of the shower room to unlock Yaga’s office. You just need to be quiet, drop the binder off and then wait outside till Kamo is done so you can lock up. Simple. 

After placing the binder, you exit the office, your hands fumbling and dropping the keys. Cursing under your breath you bend to pick them up but forget the office door is weighted. You jump in surprise when it slams shut loudly. The noise echoes through the locker room. So much for being quiet, you pick the keys up in a hurry deciding to book it to the exit when a voice stops you, “Hey, can you pass me my conditioner!? I’m an idiot and left it by my locker.” You freeze staring at the shower area before turning to look at the lockers. A wooden bench towards the back has a bottle of high quality conditioner and a fluffy white towel folded on it. Did he really forget his towel too? What was with this guy?

You sigh, deciding to grab his conditioner and towel for him. You would just leave it right by the shower door and he would be none the wiser who did it. Problem solved. Picking up the items you read the label on the way back to the shower room. Damn this was like thirty dollars a bottle. Okay Kamo, I see you. You can’t resist flicking the bottle open and taking a quick whiff; the scent is sweet with a hint of coconut. You can’t help but blush as you shut the bottle again. You shouldn’t have done that. You don’t need to know what Kamo smells like.

You approach the shower area and he must have heard your sneakers because he’s talking to you again, “Thanks can you just put it where I can reach. I was dreading having to run out and freeze my ass off.” He’s talking so casually, he must assume you are one of his teammates who forgot something.

You swallow the lump in your throat. Approaching, you decide to hang the clean towel over the top of the curtain rod so that he has it when he finishes. You gently lay it over the top, careful to place it where you normally would your own, so that it doesn’t get wet from the incoming stream of water. You hear a note of surprise in his voice as he registers the towel thrown over the top. “Dude, thanks, you're the best. I knew I forgot something else.” 

You're flushing heavily at the casual way he’s speaking to you. You need to get out. Leaning over you slip the bottle of conditioner into the corner of the shower, your fingers just barely pushing it around the plastic curtain so he can grab it. Mission accomplished. You release the bottle and go to stand fully when a large wet hand grabs your own. He must have noticed your feminine fingers. The squeak that leaves your throat is terrified as you try to pull away in shock. The shower curtain rustles as it’s pushed a few inches open from the inside and Choso Kamo is blinking at you in surprise. Even though he’s the one holding onto you he looks shocked at you being there, “L/n, F/n?”

God he looks divine. His hair is down and wet, the strands in the front come to just above his eyes while the remaining dark locks rest on his shoulders blades. You’ve never been this close to him before and the prominent scar across his nose draws your eyes briefly. You note his chiseled jaw and the way his Adam's apple bobs on his thick muscular neck when he swallows. 

You’re panicking, hand pulling away from him in quick tugs but his fingers are looped easily around your wrist. The pressure is minimal but his grip is a goalie’s vise, “I-I’m sorry. Yaga asked me to lock up and then you asked for conditioner so-” your vision flies to his hold on your wrist. His hands are calloused and rugged like your own; the veins running up them cause a heat to rush down you. His one hand dwarfs your own and looking up from them your panicked eyes meet his still confused ones, “Please let me go!”

It’s almost like he just now registers he’s holding you there. “Oh.” He releases you immediately, his face turning a shade of bright red. “Sorry!” You yank your hand from his stepping back and rubbing it reflexively. He looks worried as he steps forward towards you, his chest coming out from behind the curtain, only his lower half is obscured now, “Did I hurt you?”

Dear God. If you thought he was beautiful before… He’s stunning, your mouth dries up completely as your eyes scan down his body. His pecs are massive and while he isn’t sculpted like a bodybuilder he has this thickness to his physique that lets you know he is all strength and dexterity under his light layer of fat. His v-cut is prominent and a smattering of dark black hair travels down to hide behind the curtain. You realize you're staring and he isn’t in any hurry to cover himself up.

After a long silence his voice is deeper than normal and a little husky when he speaks, his earlier question forgotten, “You’re going to make me blush.”

You flush heavily, your eyes going up to meet his own. You clench your legs together feeling a familiar desire rolling through you. An itch you haven’t scratched since before the soccer season began. “I’m sorry, you have a nice body.”

His breath catches when your eyes meet his. There’s desire written in them and he feels himself becoming hard. He lets out a groan when you apologize, “God don’t apologize, fuck. I’ve been trying to find an excuse to talk to you for months. You’re stunning.” His eyes are burning into your own with unmasked wanting. He adjusts the shower curtain and your eyes lower to see a very thick erection pressing against it. 

You don’t even register when your tongue slides against your lips as desire pools in your nether regions. “Months?” He watches you push your legs together trying to make some friction to help with the escalating arousal you are feeling.

“I-I watch all your games.” He replies a little hoarsely and your gaze shoots up to him in surprise. 

You blink in confusion, “You should have just said Hi.”

He swallows before he mumbles out, “Hi.”

You can’t help but laugh at that and he gives an awkward chuckle in response. There’s a hot naked man in front of you who wants you and you haven’t had a good fuck in a long time. Your blood is pulsing straight to your throbbing pussy at this point. Fortune favors the bold right? Your eyes dip down to his erection still barely covered, “You want help with that?” 

He groans, “Fuck, yes.” He releases the curtain and it slides to the side. His beautiful cock on display for you. He’s cut, average in length but girthy with a delicious curve. A mesmerizing vein runs up the bottom of it. The tip is flushed a bright red with precum and water dripping off his shaft. “Join me?”

He didn’t have to ask you twice. You kick off your shoes and socks. Your shirt is above your head in moments then you shimmy down your skin tight athletic pants. Not wasting any time you remove your bra and panties and move to join him. You pull the shower curtain open and wrap it behind you, hiding you from anyone’s potential sight but his. It’s like a totally new environment once you're inside the small cube. The air is hot and misty as the water sprays Choso’s back. Droplets fly through the air and land on you sporadically. 

“I have to be dreaming…” he murmurs, his eyes going up and down your body. “That’s the only way this could be happening.” 

You can’t help but laugh at that. “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to kiss me?” 

His warm wet body is pressed against your own in moments. Lips crashing against one another in a battle for dominance where neither party cares if they win. His one arm is wrapped around your waist pulling you against him while his other cups your cheek gently. The kisses are intense and needy. All your nerve endings are on fire as his tongue traces the seam of your lips asking for entry. You open your mouth hungrily granting it access; your own tongue eager to meet his.

You feel Choso’s erection pressing against your stomach. Before you can reach down and touch it his hands go to take your own. You blink in surprise as he holds both your wrists in one hand. “I can’t let you do that.”  He chokes out before kissing up your jaw. “I’ll cum before I get inside you.” 

Before you can protest his free hand begins palming one breast and then the other. His fingers lightly pinching and massaging your nipples causing shivers to ripple down you. A moan escapes your lips, as his head dips down to take your breast into his mouth. He suckles you for a moment before using his tongue to tease your nipple. “Kamo..” you keen when his mouth releases you with an audible pop. A trail of spit briefly leading from your breast to his mouth.

“Call me Choso, say my name.” He moans taking your neglected breast into his warm mouth, his sucks and teasing motions stoke your flames of desire. 

A hard suck makes you oblige him, his name falling from your lips in a gasp, “Fuck, Choso.” The heat and humidity alongside his scorching touches have you lost in sensations. You don’t even register when he releases his mouth from your tits and is back to kissing you dumb against the tiled wall. “Can I eat you out?” He rasps out between fevered sucks on your neck and chest.

“Yes, but I want you inside me.” You whimper out. The curtain of the shower briefly opens from your movements, sending a wave of chilled air over you. Skin pebbling in response, it grants a brief relief to the overwhelming heat.

Choso wastes no time after your acquiesce. He’s on his knees looking up at you, his pupils blown with desire, “I’ve cum to the idea of this so many times.. and it doesn’t even hold a candle in comparison.” That’s all the warning you get before he leans forward one strong hand on your hip the other bringing your right leg up to hook over his shoulder. His lips are on you kissing your inner thighs, light bites and sucks move to the tender flesh of your vulva. You're crying out his name when he finally decides to lick a stripe up the center of your cunt. His tongue lapping up the sweetness of your essence. You feel him groan against you, the vibrations making you whine. His tongue is dipping into your core leaving teasing strokes inside you. His nose bumping against your clit as he nudges against you needily.

Your fingers find and twist into his hair. Holding him close to you despite the fact that he has no intention of leaving. You feel yourself getting closer to release the tightness forming in your belly. “Cho- I want you inside me. I’m gonna, fuck, I’m gonna cum.”

“Wanna taste it.” He mumbles petulantly as he leans back a little to see your half lidded eyes watching him. 

“Choso, let me cum on your cock.” 

Your dirty words make him groan, “God where have you been all my life, fuck.” He lowers your leg gently, watching the way your chest is heaving trying to catch your breath.

Choso stands, ready to devour you when he suddenly deadpans, “Fuck.. need a condom.” Before you can register what he even said his naked ass is out of the shower and running towards the locker area. You lean out the curtain in surprise seeing him open various players' lockers before finally finding one and muttering, “I owe you one Gojo.”  He’s rushing back over like you might change your mind. You're watching his erection bounce as he enters the shower room again. He’s biting the condom wrapper open and putting it on his length when he hits a slippery patch and almost wipes out. 

The shocked and confused look on his face as he almost falls on his ass is enough to have you doubled over laughing. This was by far the weirdest hookup you’d ever had and you were enjoying the hell out of it. 

“Shit!” He bites out going to enter the shower again. The water he left while exiting makes him slide precariously as he grabs the curtain for support. Your eyes widen as he pulls and the entire curtain rod falls with a crash Choso hitting the ground this time. 

You can’t help it, you're crying laughing as he looks up at you soaked and wrapped in the broken curtain. “Choso, what the fuck?” You can’t catch your breath and your sides hurt from laughing. 

He was looking up at you in disappointment but the more you laughed the more he couldn’t help but smile in return. His own deeper chuckle echoing, “I really fucked that up.”

You're wiping your eyes, you can’t remember the last time you laughed this hard. You hold out your hand to help him up as he untangles himself. 

The sexual mood is broken, he’s flaccid and his ass is throbbing in pain from him landing on it. He stands next to you totally embarrassed but you're not even laughing at him, just the absurdity of the situation. When his sheepish gaze meets yours you give him a grin pulling him back under the water. “Shower sex is not as easy as they make it out to be.” You tease leaning forward to peck the corner of his lips before tapping his shoulder and indicate he should turn his back to you. “Let me condition your hair.”

He nods, turning. His embarrassment slowly fades as you gently massage his conditioner into his hair. The domesticity of the gesture makes his heart clench with want. You are so much more than anything he could have imagined. He wants to learn everything about you and have you beside him from now on. He just hopes he didn’t ruin it with this botched hook up. 

You’re finishing up rinsing his hair when he mumbles out, “I really want to see you again even though this…” his words fade off. He can’t see the smile you are giving his back as he continues, “What are you doing this evening?”

AN: So excited to post this! Horror Dark Romance are my favorite genres so this is not going to be the same as my main fic. Please check the tags and trigger warnings!

Setting is England WWII I realize all the characters have Japanese names but there is no avoiding it with the original source material.

TW: Misogyny, Gaslighting, Gore

I made up Takeda Geto all others are from JJK.

Chapter 1

Mind Your Fingers

England 1941

“Stupid girl, what did I tell you about watching your fingers!” The old nurse yells in your ear, just about making you jump out of your skin. You are watching your fingers. You are being painfully careful so as not to accidentally touch anywhere near the open metal slat at the bottom of the heavy iron door. There is a two inch drop from the door’s mail slot style opening to the ground. Your fingers begin to tremble as you hold the tin tray, full of some slop they called lunch, halfway through the opening. Waiting for the person on the other side to take the proffered meal. The tips of your fingers are starting to turn white as you are only able to barely hold the end of the tray. The weight of it strains against you.

“W-what do I do if he doesn’t come to take his tray?” You ask, trying to keep your voice steady and sounding somewhat confident.

“Ungrateful spawn of satan.” The elderly nurse Ogami bites out, causing you to flinch at her disgusting words, “Drop it then. He’ll eat it off the floor or he won’t eat.”

Your heart twists painfully at the cruelty displayed. Even though the people residing here have committed terrible crimes the residents are still mentally disturbed and rely on you for care. “There has to be a better way?”

Nurse Ogami rolls her eyes, heaving a sigh that is meant to relay her annoyance with you, “Move girl.” Despite the woman’s liver spotted and wrinkled fingers she has surprising strength in them as she snatches the tray away from you and unceremoniously pushes it to the floor with a clatter. “Keep up this belligerent attitude young lady and you’ll be out on your luck before the month is out. You may think your special with your young looks and connections but there’s no room for error here.” When the old woman spins to you she has a malicious gleam in silver eyes. “The girl you replaced lost three fingers one night. Stupid girl pushed her hand too far in. Ryoumen was waiting just out of her line of sight and the second he saw one of her pretty tan fingers he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her elbow through the food slot. Bit each of those fingers off like he was eating part of his lunch.” You can’t help but shiver and wonder how much of the woman’s story is actually true.

Straightening your bleached white nurse's frock, you meet her eyes and respectfully dip your head, “Thank you for the warning head nurse, I'll be more careful in the future.” You pull the metal lever that shuts and locks the opening you utilized at the bottom of the door. Moving the wooden stepping stool, you thought to bring today, you push it against the door so you can see through the barred and glass protected window at the middle point of the door.

The massive man inside is easy to spot in the expanse of white. His dull orange almost pink hair is a brilliant flare of color in the otherwise stagnant room. It is a wild mess on his head, stroked backwards from repeat combing motions with his fingers. He sits hunched over at the edge of his cot. His entire frame is hulking and muscular and you wondered how he manages to maintain his physique while trapped here. His elbows are resting on his knees, hands knitted together as they flex sporadically. His face is downturned so you could barely see the bizarre facial scarring he had given himself before his capture. “Inmate Ryoumen Sukuna is accounted for.” The old woman says nothing as you step down and mark up the piece of paper you brought with you to make sure each patient receives their proper medication and meal.

You tuck the wooden stool under your arm before going to push the squeaky metal cart down to the last patient in this wing. “Just one left.”

The elderly woman grunts, turning her back to you, “You always feed those in solitary confinement last. They are being punished after all. They’re lucky they get two meals a day and a warm place to sleep. We have noble men on the front line dying from frostbite with empty bellies.” You had heard around the lunch table yesterday that old lady Ogami, as the other girls called her, is especially bitter due to her precious grandson being shipped off to somewhere in Yugoslavia to fight the German scourge. You can’t blame her for being bitter but you don’t feel like that means you have to treat the patients here worse.

The final painted white metal door S25 looks the same as every other one in this wing. Before Mrs. Ogami could comment, you push up your stool and peer in. The young man in this room is almost the exact opposite physically of the man you had just tried to feed in room S23. He is lanky and thin looking; under fed and malnourished. The second your eyes meet the back of his head the man turns suddenly his eyes locking on yours. His dark raven colored orbs met your own. No particular emotion is held there; the man just looks exhausted. Painted under his eyes are large dark circles, his eyes rimmed in red. You couldn’t help but wonder if they are red rimmed from crying or maybe they always looked like that. “Patient present.” Stepping down carefully, you give the stack of papers in front of you a once over .

Patient: Okkotsu Yuta

Sex: Male

Age: 27

The paragraphs below outlined his lack of dietary constraints, medication required and any other doctors notes. You can’t help but notice his notes from the doctor today stated that due to his consistent compliance he is recommended to be moved back to the institution's general population next week.

You make sure his tray is together. Complete with a small paper cup that has two little chalky pills inside to lower his anxiety. Taking the iron lever in hand you tug so that the meal slot screeches open. After giving Ryoumen his tray only moments earlier you can’t help but keep your fingers as far to the back as possible as you leaned to slip the tray into the three inch slot.

The ward is unusually quiet at the moment and due to this you can hear the inmate’s bare feet padding across the tile flooring. You feel the weight of the tray being released from your fingers as the person on the other side takes it gently from you. The man clears his throat before a soft spoken voice emanates from the slot, “Thank you.”

You are surprised as this is the first person today to thank you, “You’re Welcome.” Your response probably sounded happier than it should have but the tiny bit of kindness gives your day a bit of a silver lining.

“You do not speak to those in solitary confinement!” You wince in response to being scolded again.

“I’m sorry, head nurse” You hear a voice on the other side of the door mumble the apology. You bite your cheek instead of replying before repeating the same closing procedures you did at S23. Though when you look up to confirm the inmate is accounted for he is no longer looking in your direction.

As the two of you leave the solitary ward, your long gray dresses swish below you. You still aren’t used to the way everything looks the same in this institution. All the walls are white and not a picture is to be found as decoration. The only thing creating breaks in the staggering white landscape is an occasional sign directing those inside to various locations (Dispensary, Lobby, Clinic) or reminders to staff (When distributing medications check under the patient’s tongue for hidden pills, For Emergency Security dial 99 or pull panic alarm).

Despite any minor complaints you are incredibly grateful to have this job. Not only is the pay more than fair but it is in the field of medicine where you have always held interest. Maybe after you learn the ropes you can make a difference in the lives of those who live here.

You both pause before the heavy set of double doors that lead from Solitary. Demonstrating to the head nurse you are in fact learning you pull the string that rings the brass bell on the other side of the door and wait for security to unlock the door and permit your exit. The wait for the security officers to release you seems to vary from seconds to minutes depending on what is going on across the complex. Your anxiety always seems to ratchet up in the time from when the bell is rung until the large metal lock thunks and the door swings open.

The security guard who greets you on the other side of the door is grinning from ear to ear as he looks you over. “Did you have fun in there?” Your eyes flick to him briefly before pretending you didn’t hear him. His features are handsome and boyish. His fluffy white hair and striking blue eyes have a habit of pinning you in place when he addresses you. His frame is tall and muscular not that you were looking. You didn’t have to look to know his shirt has the name tag Gojo on it.

When you started here you had barely gotten your foot in the door before you were being warned about him by your fellow nurses. He was labeled a notorious flirt and womanizer. One to avoid if you want to keep your reputation clean and above all other warnings, do not fall in love with him.

The older woman looks like she is about to scold you or maybe even Gojo this time when her train of thought is interrupted. “Ah, there you are Y/n.” The familiar soothing tone nearby makes you look over with surprise and fondness. The entire reason you had ended up working in this facility was due to your father’s long term friendship with the esteemed facility director Dr. Takeda Geto. His son, Dr. Suguru Geto and your childhood friend stopped short of your small group. You couldn’t help the quick flush that covered your cheeks, at the attention. You had hoped to assimilate into the facility with as little fanfare as possible. The newest man to the group stopped and placed a hand affectionately on Gojo as they shared an almost conspiratorial grin. On the outside the two couldn’t be more dissimilar but it seems they had also cultivated a long term friendship.

You quickly curtseyed in response, keeping your head down. Despite your friendship with Suguru you wanted to be accepted in this job by your own merits rather than who you knew. Even if being hired hadn’t worked that way.

“Well if it isn’t the young master Dr. Geto.” the old woman doted; the young part surprising you as Suguru Geto had to be in his thirties now. Her tone is much more engaged than it had been at any point during your training this week. You couldn’t help the tiny quirk of your lips in amusement at the drastic change of mannerism.

Looking up you see Suguru has turned to the woman to address her while Satoru Gojo’s eyes are still locked onto you. His cerulean orbs twinkling in a mischievous manner. He is clearly noting your amusement despite your attempt at hiding it. You can't help but lift your hand to your mouth and clear your throat to cover your expression. Suguru turns at the noise flashing you a gentle smile before pushing his glasses higher up his nose. “How has training been going today?”

You look away to study a nearby sign pointing to the Security Desk, “Head nurse Ogami has been very kind and thorough in my training.” you respond respectfully.

Suguru Geto makes a long humming noise while Satoru Gojo outright laughs at the obvious lie. Anyone who has met the head nurse knows about her taciturn personality. Suguru ignoring Gojo gives Nurse Ogami a charismatic smile before noting, “I would expect nothing less from Mrs. Ogami. You can’t help but note the lack of formality he uses when he addresses the older woman now. The fondness you see in her face is not missed by you as she speaks with him. You can’t really blame the woman. Suguru Geto has been known for his charm and good looks for as long as you have known him. His familial wealth and status don’t hurt his public perception either. “Mrs. Ogami, I'd like to borrow nurse y/n for my lunch break if it doesn’t interfere with your schedule too much.”

Surprise evident in your expression, you look up at Suguru quickly, “I’m sorry Dr. Geto I already took my lunch break today-.” At Suguru’s frown, the head nurse speaks over you.

“Not to worry Dr. Geto we have finished the afternoon rounds. Anything she needs to learn can be postponed until tomorrow.” You can’t help but look between the two of them in confusion. The last thing you desire at this point is any form of favoritism, especially in front of your new coworkers who may or may not know your prior connection to the director’s son.

“I-” you are unable to break the silence before Suguru smiles attentively at you, derailing any argument you were starting to craft as to why you shouldn’t go with him.

You see Suguru turn to nurse Ogami giving her a conspiratorial wink, “I owe you one, Mrs. Ogami.” the older woman brushes him off but a faint blush on her cheeks lets you know his words are far more effective than she lets on.

You feel obligated to thank her despite not wanting to go to lunch with Suguru in the first place, “Thank you Head Nurse.” You dip slightly in the appropriate curtsy before looking up at Suguru questioningly. The smile he gives you in response is benign as he gestures for you to follow him. When he walks past Gojo he clasps him on the shoulder before leaning forward to comment something into his ear that you aren’t privy to. The comment provokes a laugh out of Gojo before he heads back to the Security Office.

When you don’t immediately move to follow Suguru, he prods you verbally, “Shall we?” You don’t really have a choice in the matter. At least it feels that way, as you follow two steps behind him trying to keep a professional distance as he leads you to his office. You haven’t actually been in his office yet. Well, his fathers office. He leads you towards the entrance of the building where the directors office is situated. The location makes it easy for him to attend to visitors or in rarer cases government officials.

He takes a moment to unlock the door before gesturing you inside. Once in you take a quick look of the surroundings. Not much has changed in the furnishings since Suguru had unofficially taken over the room. His fathers medical licenses and diplomas have been swapped out for his own and the desk nameplate has been changed. Other than that all the bookshelves and desk items remain the same.

There are two chairs in front of the large oak desk and one behind it. “Please sit.” There is a tinkling noise at the door as you register he’s locking it from the inside with his keys. You can’t help the small shiver that races up your spine. Even if you have known Suguru the majority of your life the action seems strange and internal warning bells are ringing. He jerks the handle to ensure the door will not be opened by anyone other than himself before he opens his suit jacket and tucks the key ring into an inside pocket.

You sit as instructed but you are hardly relaxed. Your body leans towards the edge of your seat, “Why did you lock it?”

He raises a brow at you with a curious smile, “Does that make you nervous?” He moves around the desk to gather a few items, presumably his lunch.

You resolve yourself to sound unbothered as you decide to respond, “No.” The last thing you want to do is offend him.

To your surprise he comes back around to your side of the desk and sits in the chair next to you, “I hate being interrupted. A simple lock prevents that from happening. Besides, this place is full of unstable individuals. One can never be too safe.”

“I see.” You are trying to find a way to voice your concerns to him without being labeled with the tags that women are so often given for having boundaries.

He’s spreading out his lunch an easy going air to him as he leans back in his chain before crossing a leg over another, “Come on, give me a smile you look much prettier that way.”

You try but it doesn’t feel very convincing. You had only been here two days and you had noticed a fairly big change between Suguru’s attitude now and when you had known him before your fathers death.

All your interactions previously had been when Suguru and Dr. Takeda Geto had visited your family's estate in the countryside. The two of you had talked, played, and studied together every summer for years. Your fathers smoking cigars and drinking expensive brandy in the backdrop. Suguru has always been so shy, quiet, and respectful. Now within the property of the Hillsboro Asylum for the Criminally Insane he is still quiet and respectful but there is a confidence behind every movement he makes. He’s in an environment he fully controls and that factor isn’t lost on you.

He pulls out a sandwich and takes a bite; scrutinizes your uneasy expression, “Tell me what’s worrying that pretty little head of yours. You’ve been on edge since you got here.”

“Ah.” You can’t help but feel guilty. Dr. Takeda and Suguru have done so much for you the least you can do is be appreciative. You manage to muster a much more genuine smile, “I’m sorry Dr. Geto I-“

He gives a lazy laugh, his arm moves to rest behind your back on the chair you’re seated in, “You should just call me Suguru, Dr. Geto feels so stuffy.”

His fingers slowly gravitate to a strand of your hair that escaped your starched white nurses cap. He catches it within his fingers tugging it lightly.

You blush heavily at the intimate touch, “I’m worried about perceived favoritism. I don’t want to be treated any differently than the other employees. I want to assimilate with the other nurses.” He’s watching you closely and you can’t decipher his expression, his fingers still gently twirling in your hair. Your face grows heated, “Private lunches in locked offices won’t look proper.” It wasn’t just your reputation you were worried about even though that was a concern. You hoped to make friends out of the other nurses in this new place you would call your home.

Suguru leans back and considering your words a long humming noise escaping his throat. He sits forward, his elbows resting on his knees now as he takes you in. He has a soft smile on his lips but it isn’t quite meeting his eyes. “It’s a little late to worry about favoritism, don't you think? Why else would I have hired you if not for that? I could have hired any old local girl if not for my preference for you.”

You feel a lump growing on your throat. When Dr. Takeda visited just after your fathers recent passing the job he offered seemed like a lifeline. “I-I have knowledge in the field and experience with medication management-“

Suguru laughs out loud, cutting your words off, “Come now y/n. Sure you’ve read some books but you aren’t particularly bright. Women like you are a dime a dozen.” He takes a bite of an apple his tone conversational and casual. “With the job shortages around the country I have women lined up begging for work and you come here acting high and mighty with unwieldy demands.”

Your face flushes and your eyes burn at his comments, “I’m sorry Suguru I hadn’t considered-“

Suguru stands brushing off his pants and avoids making eye contact, “Of course you didn’t. You only consider your own feelings when all you should be worried about is what I think.” He moves to the door and unlocks it, his every movement laced with irritation. “Leave, your ungratefulness is souring my lunch.”

You quickly stand feeling like you're back in grade school and being dressed down for misbehavior. Suguru has always been so balanced and logical; you can’t help but know it must be you at fault for this disagreement, “I’m sorry Suguru, please forgive me. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Please don’t be cross with me.” Your tone is higher pitched and more vulnerable than intended. Your eyes glassy with held back tears.

He finally meets your gaze and sighs heavily, “You know I can’t be angry at you for long.” His hand comes up to your face as he softly rubs your cheek with his knuckles. The motion causing a tear to spill down your cheeks. He smiles at that, “There there. Go home for the day and put something nice on. Father and I expect you at dinner tonight, don’t be late.”

Your emotions are all over the place as you head for the exit to the Asylum. You are a fool to think you had been hired on your own merit despite the relationship between your family and Dr. Takedas.

The exit routine for the building takes several minutes. With many weighty doors unlocking and locking. When you reach the front entrance the process is just beginning for another man. The security seeing you approaching waves you forward into the same interlock area as the man to allow you both to do the exit procedures at the same time.

The young man looks up at you, his eyes a golden brown. He’s tall and well built but it is his facial scars that really catch your attention. A thick jagged line races between his eyebrows, the left side of his cheek and lip marred, and under both of his eyes are almost identical check shaped scars. Despite the rugged damage across his countenance when he looks up at you his face goes from a disappointed scowl to concern. “Hey are you okay?”

“Move forward!” A guard calls out ready for you to exit into the next man trap room.

You feel another tear roll down your cheek and you look at the kind face across from you etched with worry. He moves forwards toward you a step and it's only then you notice he is missing a leg, a wooden crutch is braced under one arm.

Embarrassment floods you as you try to wipe away any evidence of your tears. “Yes I’m terribly sorry. How unprofessional of me.”

He tilts his head to the side, the motion reminding you of dogs when confused. “Unprofessional? For having emotions?”

You don’t know how to respond to that. He studies you while the exit procedures are completed and you both find yourself outside in the cold winter air. “My names Yuji, Itadori Yuji.” He’s looking up at the gray cloudy skies with feigned interest, “I’m kinda here a lot. Visiting.” His gaze meets yours again as he gives you a smile that tilts a little on his damaged side. “I don’t think we’ve met yet though.”

Something about his smile is so disarming, “Oh, I’m Y/n L/n, I just started here a few days ago.”

His smile seems to grow brighter, his eyes twinkling with genuine happiness. It has been such a long time since you have seen that in a person. “Well maybe I’ll see you more often then!” He watches you a moment and you return his authentic happiness with a real smile of your own.

“I hope so Mr. Itadori.” He laughs outright at that which catches you off guard.

His grin is infectious, lazy and lopsided, “Mr. Itadori is my Grandpa. Yuji is more than fine.”

You nod the flush on your cheeks now from the cold and pleasant company rather than the shame and embarrassment moments earlier, “Alright, Mr. Yuji.”

He laughs in response, his tone rich. “Not exactly what I meant but that will do. Can I walk you home? I’m heading down to town now.”

The offer sounds nice and you probably would have accepted had it not been in the wrong direction, “I actually live in the nurse’s dorms on the property. Thank you for the offer. I enjoyed our chat and hope we will get to talk again in the future.” You give a quick bob of a curtsey as he gives a jaunty wave in return.

“Nice meeting you Miss L/n!” As he turned to make the slow trek down the lane to the main road you couldn’t help but look back at him. He has the strangest hair color. Despite the rarity of the bright orange pink shade it is strikingly familiar.

At the moment he was looking fairly awkward and you attempted to relieve his anxiety, “No really it’s okay. We..were in the same elementary school together. I was…” you pause trying to pull some story out that could make sense. “...picked on a lot and you defended me. Which is why I remember you! I’m y/n, y/n l/n” You smiled happily, liking the narrative that you came up with. Haibara is a good guy and the last thing you want is for him to feel bad not remembering a person he never met.

Haibara stands back up to his full height, his mind clearly trying to find a place where you would possibly fit into his childhood. You figured, if Haibara’s personality was similar as a child to what it was now he definitely was popular on the playground and probably defended other kids all the time. There had to be a place some random girl could fit in. You smiled as sweetly as you could while thinking, Come on Yu, would this face lie to you? God he looks adorable when he’s confused.

After a moment there seems to be a flash of recognition in his eyes before he slaps a fist into his open palm. “I-I think i remember you. I’m sorry y/n. You look a lot different now…i think." The last part is under his breath as you try to keep your expression under control. 

You flush when you realize he immediately started calling you by your first name taking what you said as truth that you were childhood friends. You give a small laugh, “You look really different as well. I almost didn't recognise you. Thank you for helping me out there.” you gesture towards the main sidewalk behind you. “I’m not so great around…crowds.” you finish the sentence confidently despite the pause. That wasn’t completely untrue. You definitely weren’t a fan of being crushed in a wave of bodies.

“Ooooh,” He smiled at you gently, unconsciously stepping forward a little closer to you. “Are you feeling better? You sure you don’t want a candy?” He wiggled his hand with the candies in front of you as if to emphasize them. 

You felt yourself laugh. Speaking to him felt natural, “No, but i really appreciate the off-” You stopped short as a sudden influx of energy appeared behind you.

“Haibara!” a disgruntled voice barked in annoyance at your back. The speaker abruptly paused, realizing Haibara was not alone in front of him. Turning you saw a teen even taller than Haibara had come in from the crowd, his school uniform mussed up like he had been fighting for his life in the mob behind him. Your jaw dropped as Nanami Emo Hair Kento stood in front of you in all his awkward teenage glory. Nanami looked at you uncomfortably as you tried to get your expression of awe in check. He raised a brow at Haibara, clearly asking him what he was doing in a random side street with some girl. 

“Ahhh sorry Kento, I got distracted again and forgot the time.” He looked somewhat shamefaced as if this was definitely not the first time Haibara had not showed up to what you were assuming was a mission on time. Shoving the sweets back into his pocket Haibara’s face quickly broke into a cheerful grin when he walked over to you and wrapped an arm around your shoulder gesturing you forward towards Nanami. Your entire body felt like it was on fire when he laid his muscled arm across your shoulders. 

Haibara had taken to you like a duck to water, not even bothering to question anything. You couldn’t help but think uncharitably, No wonder this guy got himself killed.. Haibara’s cherry tone continued not registering your beat red face, “But Kento look! I ran into y/n, we’ve been friends since we were little back in Hokkaido. I can’t believe we ran into each other all the way down here in Tokyo, what a small world!”

You felt yourself choke when he mentioned Hokkaido. “Yes, very..small”. You nodded awkwardly, grateful he let you in on that little detail of “your childhood” as Nanami looked at you suspiciously. 

Nanami took in your red face and awkward expression before responding in a bland tone, “I see...Nanami, Kento” he introduced himself with little fanfare as Haibara grinned even bigger.

Haibara gave your shoulder a little squeeze before letting you go and exclaiming, “I am so pumped now! I never thought you’d get to meet any of my friends from back home. This is great we should go do some Karaoke-” 

“No!” Two identical “No” rang out at the suggestion of Karaoke. You panicking at the idea of being trapped in a small room with these two men and being forced to perform. Nanami balking over the very idea of Karaoke in conjunction with Haibara forgetting the mission they were supposed to be on now. Before Haibara could start up again Nanami ground out, “Haibara we have someplace to be.” 

Haibara looked like he deflated at Nanami’s comment before blinking back at you dejectedly, “I forgot. Y/n let’s trade numbers so we can all hang out sometime. How long are you in Tokyo?” 

“Ahh, yeah about that…i’m not really sure..and my phone broke.” This dream was really getting into the weeds. Did you even have a cellphone? Probably not. You literally just met the cinnamon roll, emo haired, dream team and they were going to run off and leave you standing here until you woke up. You had to have like…some ability or something right. I mean it's your dream after all. What’s the worst that could happen? A curse pulverizes you and you wake up and go to work. You glance around awkwardly before deciding you're not ready for this night to end yet, “I mean… I could probably help kill a curse or two…typical tuesday night right?” You had no idea what day of the week it was but it probably didn’t matter. You expected dream Nanami and dream Haibara to take this in stride and welcome you into their curse hunt. Instead they both stared at you in horrified shock. 

Nanami immediately began to sputter in an attempt to respond, nothing coherent managing to come out. He whipped his head to Haibara with an accusatory look as if to say, what did you tell her? 

Haibara meanwhile froze looking at you before laughing a little too loud to be convincing, “Ah ha ha! I forgot to tell you Kento, she's a jujutsu sorcerer like us?!” Despite addressing Nanami, Haibara's eyes were glued on you in wonder, “That explains the strong energy I felt before I ran into you in the road.”

Guess that means I’m able to do something, you thought with surprise at Haibara’s last comment. Going to play it off you smiled at Nanami before raising your hands up and waving your fingers, “Surprise!”

Haibara jumped on to your comment and did a somewhat identical pose on the opposite side yelling, “Surprise!” You were seriously going to have to keep an eye on this Haibara kid. There was trusting and then there was this. Even if this was a dream he needed to be a little more suspicious. 

Nanami adjusted his weight onto his other foot ignoring Haibara for the time being, “You’re a jujutsu sorcerer?” At your nonchalant nod he continued, “What grade?” 

“I was homeschooled. Aren’t you running late? I don’t have to come if it’s a problem, just wanted to offer help to Yu.” Remembering Nanami’s disdain for overtime and extra work you added, “Figured we could get done faster… go read or ..listen to sad music faster?” 

Haibara laughed as Nanami seemed to actually think it over. “Fine since you’re Haibara’s friend and it will get us out of here faster.” He turned to lead the way out into the open city air, “But if you get in the way we are leaving you behind” he muttered more to himself than anyone else.

~~

Thankfully, it didn’t take very long for the major city congestion to clear; your small group finding its way into lesser populated side streets. Nanami led the way about half a block in front of you and Haibara; only stopping briefly to consult a paper map before trekking off quickly ahead again. You watched Nanami work from behind with a sense of awe that this somewhat gangly looking emo kid was going to fill out into the beefcake that is Nanami Kento in Shibuya. Not that present Nanami wasn’t adorable. I mean sure he could use a hair cut but he was over six feet tall and had legs for days. Plus, as much as you liked thick boys like older Nanami you had had your fair share of crushes on sickly thin emo boys with bags under their eyes. He wasn’t as broad as Haibara yet but his form was lithe and had this casual but confident finesse about him. God you were no better than a man. You averted your eyes before you burned a hole in Nanami’s back.

You felt Haibara’s eyes on you from your right side. He had positioned himself nonchalantly earlier so that he was on the side of the walkway closest to the road. You could more than handle yourself but the gesture was kind and it made you feel a little warm and fuzzy on the inside despite the chilly autumn weather. He was too good for this world and way too trusting, “Yu, you really need to be more careful about trusting just anyone who walks up to you on the street.” 

The boy tossed you a lazy grin while scoffing, “Are you saying I shouldn’t have trusted you?”

You pouted, sticking out your lower lip a little, “Well no… but what if I was a curse user? You need to be a little more critical in approaching others.” You lightly scolded. 

“Finally someone with common sense.” Nanami tosses the words backwards despite neither of you realizing he was listening in. “If you won’t listen to me, listen to your friend.”

Haibara smiles a little wider at Nanami’s complaint, “Kento you say that like we’re not friends.” At Nanami’s grunt in response Haibara raises a finger up to his chin and taps it like he is thinking, “I dunno…I’m a pretty good judge of character.” 

You remember him saying something similar to Geto before he fell off the deep end. “Right…just be careful. Please.” You didn’t want to sound like a nag when you just met the guy but the image of him on a gurney in the morgue keeps popping up in your mind. 

“Will do!” He flashes two thumbs up and gives you a wink. You feel yourself flush at the silly gesture before returning one thumbs up back. “So y/n are you planning on enrolling at Jujutsu High? That would be so cool. You know me and Kento are a two man team-“

Nanami stops in front of a dilapidated building that looks like it used to be some sort of apartment complex. Before Nanami speaks you feel this foreboding feeling emanating off of the building in front of you. A chill runs down your arms and the hair on the back of your neck stands on its end. “We’re here. Ijichi should be here to set up our veil.” Nanami comments looking down the street for a sign of the other young man.

“Ijichi is in our grade but he’s training to be a window.” Haibara explains but you already remember the shy man from the show. 

Nodding, you look up at the complex ahead. If you focus hard enough you can see the purple tendrils of an aura leaking from the area. The feeling is overwhelming and very obvious now that you’ve seen it once. It’s like a searchlight cutting through the night sky. “It’s kinda amazing that normal people can’t see this when it’s so jarringly visible to us..” you whisper. Part of you is relieved you can see cursed energy and hope that means you will be able to fight halfway decent.

Haibara looks like he is about to respond but is cut off when Nanami announces, “There he is.” A black car pulls up to the curb and turns its emergency lights on before the driver hops out in a hurry, running to where your small group is gathered in front of the complex. “You’re 15 minutes late.” Nanami states matter of factly to the newest member of your group. 

The newest arrival is sweating and nervously squeezing his hands “Nanami, I’m sorry I had trouble getting ahold of one of the schools rental cars and then I ran into Gojo-“

“Just put up the veil so we can go home.” Nanami interrupted.

Ijichi stood ramrod straight before acknowledging, “Right, very sorry.” He raised his arms forming a specific hand gesture before clearing his throat, “Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.” As soon as the words were released you felt Ijichi’s aura flare followed by a dark shade of purple oozing over the apartment complex. Despite the seemingly liquid consistency it formed a half circle barrier surrounding the entire complex and its immediate surroundings. 

Before Ijichi even released his seal Nanami was stepping forward, “Let’s get this over with. ” he muttered stepping through the veil and out of your vision. 

Haibara grinned, glancing at you and raising a brow, “Ready to go?” 

You returned his eye contact with a half smile before turning serious, “Let’s do this!” As you stepped forward after Haibara you noticed Ijichi staring at you in confusion clearly trying to place where you were from. You flashed him a quick grin and a little wave before stepping under and into the newly created veil. You couldn’t help but laugh as you saw a blush race up his neck to his pale cheeks. Ijichi really didn’t look any different than his older self. He still had the salaryman haircut and nervous expression. The only real difference was instead of his signature black and white suit in the anime he now wore the same school uniform as Nanami did.

You sped up your step a bit until you were beside Nanami before addressing him, “Is there anything I need to know before we get started?” 

He glanced over at you, giving you some consideration before he responded. “Shouldn’t be anything overly difficult. Two curses, at least one family went missing before the place was evacuated. The higher ups don’t expect us to find anyone alive.” You nodded your mouth becoming a grim line as he continued, “If you have any doubts about proceeding you need to leave now.” 

You rolled your shoulders before flexing your fingers a few times. Since the moment you woke up here there was this underlying current you could feel. At first it was like a soft moving static but upon Nanami’s appearance the flow began to define itself more. It wasn’t like you felt it, saw it or even heard it. This newly awakened sixth sense was an automatic involuntary function; like hearing or smelling. It just existed now and you were now left to interpret the signals. You focused on this new sense and tried flexing the current inside you. In response cursed energy raced down your arm to arc between your finger tips briefly. “I’m good.” You responded with a confidence you weren’t sure was warranted. “From the outside it looked like this place was three floors. Do we each want to take one?” 

Nanami watched you as you spoke, assessing the look in your eyes and maybe even your cursed energy output. You could only guess what others could sense given your lack of experience in actually wielding cursed energy. Nanami usually took the lead in these missions but given there was a new factor that had a connection to Haibara he glanced at his friend for the response. 

Beside you there was no more sign of the goofy looking golden retriever boy. Haibara’s face was serious, “Okay, Y/n If you need anything give a yell. We rely on each other to complete these missions. We may separate but we are not alone in this. Me, you and Nanami are a team now.” He maintained eye contact while he spoke before giving you a thumbs up. Even Nanami nodded in agreement, his face serious. 

You couldn’t help but smile at Haibara’s words and Nanami’s concurrence. Even if this was a dream the idea of being accepted so totally by these two gave you this sense of belonging you hadn’t felt before. “Alright let’s kick some cursed ass.”

75 Comments

“Dude I fkn hate Mahito he better get left right goodnight next ep”

“lol get ready to be disappointed”

“I mean why mahito kinda…👀”

“get help….” “girlie I’m all for ignoring red flags but that’s a whole red flag factory” "okay but transforming body parts 😩"

You laughed at the comments per usual thumbing up your favorites before going to type your own. This fandom was so unhinged but you loved it. These comments were tame compared to what you would see on the average JJK thirst trap video.

“Gege is the worst curse 😭” 

You hit enter with a small smile before immediately scrolling through a few more TikToks. Your timeline was currently Jujutsu Hell. Just about every TikTok was JJK related and while you adored the show (maybe a little too much) you were feeling a little bummed out by it lately. 

Season one had become your ultimate comfort anime. It was endearing, funny, heartwarming and all the characters meshed so well. It made you feel like a part of their family -albeit a very hot family where you thirsted over about 90% of the cast-. 

Sure the Junpei arc in season 1 broke your heart but it was a manageable amount of sadness. The movie was much the same; a little sad but overwhelming the good guys win and the family is together at the end. Then came Shibuya and all hell broke loose. Gege made you fall in love with Suguru Geto despite knowing that wasn’t going to end well. Your sweet baby Yuji was tortured relentlessly physically and mentally. Then he put your man Gojo in an eyeball box before he killed off a bunch of beloved characters. You were honestly starting to feel depressed. It sounds dramatic but you really loved these characters and it felt like Gege was torturing them for the hell of it. Character deaths were fine with a literary purpose but it was beginning to feel cruel.

Your mood dipped with your thoughts as you decided to close the app down. Before you could flick it shut a notification popped up at the top of your screen showing someone had responded to your comment. You clicked it to see the bigger thread.

“Yuji had to watch these ppl die to grow as a character”

You screwed up your face into an affronted expression. You had a tendency of wearing your thoughts on your face before managing to school them. Something that had gotten you in trouble more than once. Thankfully, in your own home that wasn’t an issue. 

“Not really relevant to my comment..” you mumbled while typing a response. “But I’ll bite”

“Killing off characters just to make another one grow is the easy way out. Yuji is a kid. Torturing him senselessly isn’t making him grow, it's making him traumatized.”

Before you could even click away another comment popped up below yours 

“U think u could do any better?”

You rolled your eyes at the comment. You loved Gege’s work, the universe and characters he created were amazing; but that didn’t mean you had to agree with every decision he made as an author. This is why you didn’t bother to leave comments. You hated having to justify yourself to random people on the internet. You contemplated deleting your original comment before you typed 

“I mean I could get to the same places plot wise and emotionally without murdering everyone the audience cares about..” Before the guy could respond again you hit the phones off button to put it to sleep and threw it across your bed. You hated that your emotions tended to get involved in things as tiny as internet comments or tv shows.

You huffed into your sheets before mumbling, “If I was there I’d end up being an annoying Shonen protagonist…”  you smiled thinking of the way Naruto relentlessly chased down Sasuke or Luffy refused to leave his Nakama behind. Rolling over you lay on your back staring at the ceiling grinning, “Suguru Geto you aren’t escaping the power of friendship buddy! I would drag your monkey hating ass back kicking and screaming. Hell, I’m saving Yu Haibara first, sending Geto to therapy, and taking Nanami to a freaking hair salon. Emo looking…” you laugh out loud before your reverie is interrupted by the screeching of your phone's alarm. 

Your mood is forced to instantly sober, “I’m pathetic..” you muttered. Knowing in the back of your head you had to get ready for another day at your mediocre job with your shitty coworkers. And for what? To come home and be sad that the gorgeous pixelated men on the other side of the screen were getting knocked off by their God Gege (who you just decided to dub God-Ge).

After rubbing a hand over the bridge of your nose you tried to muster the energy to get up and get shit done. Raising up one hand towards the ceiling and making a fist you yelled, “Alright God-Ge you dick just you wait till I get Isekaied! Not one of my boys is dying and I all my babies are gonna grow up loved as fuck!!”

~~

That was the last thing you remembered and what brought you to the here and now. Where ever here and now was… you were disoriented to say the least. You went from laying in bed to your body standing. White and red lights were flashing by with a blustery wind shaking you and rattling your clothes. Despite the confusion you registered that you were moving but not with any sense of purpose or even of your own volition. You were submerged in a crowd; bodies flowing around you pushing your stumbling form along.  You were in sensory overload; the sound of racing vehicles, people talking, advertisements ringing. The lights flickering around you were blurred and the voices surrounding you were unintelligible. 

You felt as if you broke through to the air from a lake in the middle of winter. Your mind was having trouble forming full thoughts. The information it was receiving was partial and you felt goosebumps break out down your arms as you felt a shiver go down your body. You noticed a ringing in your head as it gradually grew louder in volume. The tinnitus like sound became unbearable as you hunched over putting your hands over your ears. Your posture was protective as you just hoped the overwhelming feelings would-

The ringing stopped. The sounds around you clarified and your vision seemed to return to normal. It felt as if someone had thrown you a life preserver in frigid waters and you gasped at the sudden shift in physical sensations.

Something was grounding you. This warmth spread throughout your body and a wave of reassurance engulfed you. Still bent over with your hands on your knees you registered a hand on your upper back near your shoulder. The touch, warm and light, rubs a gentle circle only partially putting its weight on you. You aren’t the type of person to want to be touched by strangers but the person barely holding you relays comfort and reassurance. Their form was removed enough to show concern while not intruding on your space or coming off as disrespectful. 

“Hey are you okay? You don’t look so good..” the voice was masculine but had this buoyancy and brightness to it. The energy behind it non-threatening and almost inviting. You squeezed your eyes shut trying to regain some baseline of where you are. You registered the sidewalk under your feet and your familiar pair of shoes. It had to be nighttime based on the level of light surrounding you. It wasn’t dark but the only thing illuminating your feet was colorful artificial rays. 

The hand on your back left taking its warmth with it. Your eyes flicked up to meet a pair of brown orbs with flecks of gold. The person's face peering down at you was so close to your own your noses almost brushed when you looked up. Your voice caught in your throat as you choked in surprise at the handsome features directly in front of you. His brown eyes were framed with long dark lashes. The first thought that left your mind was he’s beautiful before a heat raced down your stomach. 

At your noses almost touching, he stood up quickly from stooping to get a better look at you. He must have seen something in your eyes that clearly concerned him as both of his arms reached out to steady you on either side of your shoulders. His fingers flexed lightly on your upper arms as he maintained a firm but gentle hold, “Hey I’ve got ya, let’s move over out of the walkway.” The voice sounded like how someone would coax an animal out of a hiding place. It generated a sense of security despite the confusion all around you. 

You leaned up to your full height, the hands on your arms providing support in the event you needed it. You fought past a wave of dizziness as your gaze followed his legs on their way to meet his eyes. He was tall, almost two heads taller than you. His face now turned away from yours as it scanned above the crowd for a destination. His hair was the same honey brown color as his eyes. The style boyish, straight and short; stopping above the ears before ending in an undercut. The bangs were untamed like he had run his hands through them one time too many.  

“Hmmmm, umm…there’s gotta be a seat somewhere..” he mumbled to himself aloud. You tried to focus on his words but felt your form stiffen as you were bumped by the throng brushing by you, intent on where they were heading. When he spoke his voice tickled the back of your brain, a sense of familiarity rolling over you. You couldn’t help but focus on the sensation of his hands on your shoulders. 

He visibly perked up as he seemed to have found what he was looking for before he glanced back over to you. He smiled brightly, making eye contact that made you feel a blush on your face in response. He released your arms briefly before a large warm hand reached out and clasped your smaller one before navigating you towards a less dense part of the horde. “So I don’t lose you.” he explained lightheartedly over his shoulder. His grip was soft despite the roughness of his own hands. You felt yourself rub against him reflexively tracing one of his calloused fingers with your own. 

Your own emotions and feelings in your present situation baffled you. You were not some maiden needing saving nor some naive girl who would tag up with a random man. You watched way too much true crime to ever take a strange man’s hand and follow them into a side street no matter how attractive they were. However, rather than your intuition screaming for you to pull your hand away and run, it remained quiet. You had never believed in aura, chakra, energy or whatever but it was like you could sense his and it gave you only positive vibes. 

Nothing made sense. A moment ago you were laying in bed on TikTok and now you were in the middle of a massive metropolitan area (you lived hours away from one) in the middle of a crowd with a guy you vaguely felt like you knew pulling you to God knows where?

Swallowing hard, you stumbled behind the larger male his broad back and strong shoulders taking up the majority of your view. You shadowed him closely so that you wouldn’t become separated. This was working fine until he abruptly stopped; someone cutting in front of you both with a bicycle. You tripped forward into his back, your fingers gripping tightly into his black crop top style jacket for support. A soft cry of surprise escaping your lips. He froze letting you regain your balance as you leaned against him fully. His back clearly muscled against your forearms and hands. “I’m sorry” you stammered out letting go once you reoriented yourself. The guy leading turned slightly towards you before readjusting your hand in his making sure not to let go. “N-no worries, one minute and we're there...” he announced in a soothing tone despite an outbreak of red flushing the top of his ears and the little bit of cheek you could see. 

True to his word less than a minute passed before there was a gap in the crowds and you both emerged into a smaller offshoot of the main walkway. You must be between stores where the garbage and back employee stairs were situated because the area was pretty empty opposed to the sidewalk not five feet away. The familiar individual in front of you released your hand and began digging in his jacket pockets now. Below the jacket was a simple white t-shirt followed by formal black pants. The t-shirt was snug not leaving much to the imagination as you felt yourself swallow hard. Part of his tongue popped out in the corner of his mouth as he kept searching for something. Your mind immediately goes, cute, at the small pink muscle wedged in the corner of his lips. “Miss, do you prefer sweet or salty food?” He formally inquired looking up with a smile. He managed to fish out some candies from his pockets alongside what looked like a few candy wrappers and some pocket lint. 

You blinked at the unappetizing handful  in his outstretched hand before studying his face again. It was driving you crazy how familiar he looked. Though another part of you couldn’t help but assert you wouldn’t forget a face this attractive and boyish.  A lazy smile graced his face as he looked you in the eyes holding forward his hand of proffered treasures. The way he expectantly looked at you reminded you instantly of a golden retriever. He was convinced that his outstretched handful would solve whatever issue made you double over in the street. “I bet it’s low blood sugar! My grandma has to deal with that so I got in the habit of carrying around a couple of candies in case she needs a little boost!” He gave a short laugh before reaching back to scratch his head with his free hand “but to be totally honest I usually end up eating it all and it’s really more of an excuse to keep candies on hand all the time…” he paused clearly still waiting for you to take one of the brightly wrapped sweets. His expression clearly reflecting that he could never imagine you not wanting one of the slightly melted goodies.

“Oh…okay, thank you?” Your response came out as more of a question then you intended as you glanced down and bridged your hand half way between you two before pausing. The wrappings were unfamiliar and you had no idea what exactly you were taking. A sarcastic voice in your head couldn’t help but quip, Good idea let's take candy from the stranger now that you’ve followed him into an alley.

He watched you, his smile never fading as you glanced up to make eye contact again a small furrow of confusion on your brow. He looked down at his own hand before exclaiming, “Oh! Right so this one is a little sour it’s got like a tangy…” the older teen continued to ramble on. His voice faded into the background as your brain went 100 miles per hour trying to catch up to everything happening. You definitely knew this guy. Was he a coworker's friend? That didn’t explain how the hell you ended up in a city. His candy spiel apparently ended as he looked up at you tilting his head to the side slightly. 

A light bulb suddenly went off in your head as you exclaimed out loudly pointing as if you had the answer to a game of Pictionary. “Yu! Haibara Yu!”